Opening subsequent yr, the $185 million lab in Michigan, U.S., will develop, take a look at and construct lithium-ion and solid-state car battery cells and arrays with a cross-functional group of 150 consultants.
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Ford has introduced its plan to open a brand new battery lab referred to as ‘Ford Ion Park’ to develop and manufacture electrical car (EV) batteries, and take a look at manufacturing approaches, taking a step towards producing battery cells for EVs internally.
Opening subsequent yr, the $185 million lab in Michigan, U.S., will develop, take a look at and construct lithium-ion and solid-state car battery cells and arrays with a cross-functional group of 150 consultants, the car big mentioned in an announcement.
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“Investing in more battery R&D ultimately will help us speed the process to deliver more, even better, lower cost EVs for customers over time,” Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer mentioned.
The Ford Ion Park group shall be led by Anand Sankaran, at the moment the corporate’s director of Electrified Systems Engineering.
According to the carmaker, the group will guarantee batteries are optimised for its various clients – from day by day commuters to efficiency lovers to industrial car fleet operators.
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The automotive firm’s $100 million battery benchmarking and take a look at laboratory in Michigan, opened final yr, will assist Ford Ion Park and assist shortly take a look at and establish the proper battery cells and chemistries to energy Ford’s rising EV line-up.
Unlike different American car corporations like Tesla and General Motors that have invested in battery cell production at scale for his or her EVs, Ford’s 2,00,000 sq. ft. lab will embody “pilot-scale” gear for electrode, cell and array design and manufacturing and can use state-of-the-art expertise to pilot new manufacturing strategies.
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Ford at current sources its batteries from South Korea-based SK Innovation, and didn’t specify the timeline for in-house manufacturing of battery cells at scale for its rising EV line-up that features Mustang Mach-E, the all-electric Ford Transit, which is ready to go on sale late this yr and the all-electric F-150 arriving by mid-2022.
“We are modernising Ford’s battery development and manufacturing capabilities so we can better control costs and production variables in-house and scale production around the world with speed and quality,” Thai-Tang mentioned.
Also Read | All JLR cars to be fully electric by 2030; Jaguar all electric by 2025Earlier this yr, Ford introduced its dedication to speculate no less than $22 billion by way of 2025 to ship related, electrified autos, beginning with EV variations of its hottest nameplates.
